Sublime Text 3 for Atom Users

Due to the release of Sublime Text 3, I thought I’ll give this editor a shot. Currently, I’m using both Notepad++ and Atom. Altough I really like atom and the several useful plugins, it has one huge problem: speed. The initial loading time is one thing, over 100 mb. of RAM in idle mode is another. For quickly editing stuff, this is not acceptable.

Sublime Text seems to be a nice alternative, this article documents my switch from Atom to Sublime Text.

Download and Installation

As opposed to Atom, Sublime Text is not free. The per-user-licenses are $80 each, which I think is a very price for a tool, that you work with each day.

Also, I think the most users are developers themselves and share the same mindset of willing to pay for good software.

Plugins and Themes

You can use plugins and themes in Sublime as well as you’re used to in Atom. The easiest way to do this is to install package control (Tools – Install package control, https://packagecontrol.io). After that, you can use it via CTRL + SHIFT + P. Enter install, and it will autocomplete to Package Control: Install Package. After that, you can install whatever package you like.

One of the things I really liked the most on Atom is the built-in markdown preview. Another option I really enjoyed while using atom is the infinite scrolling mode, which is automatically enabled in Sublime Text. I quickly found alternatives for all of my favourite plugins. The installation of themes is easy as well. You’ll first install whatever package you like, and the activate it by using the CTRL + SHIFT + P shortcut. A theme I really like for Sublime is Brogrammer.

Settings

The last thing I’d like to mention here are the file based user settings. Under Preferences – Settings, you can add your customized settings for an individual look & feel. Any config-element is also listed in the default settings, displayed on the right, from where you can copy and edit the specific items. For example, I set my default font to Fira Mono.